


Biggs and Wedge Are Dead

by JestaAriadne (still_intrepid)



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Absurdism, Experimental Style, Final Fantasy VI crossover, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Tom Stoppard, Unfinished
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2020-01-04 23:12:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18353672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/still_intrepid/pseuds/JestaAriadne
Summary: From across the carriage, Cloud says, apropos of nothing: "It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where its rails take it."Biggs and Wedge turn to one another."This is ridiculous," fumes Biggs.  "There is alimit!Isn't there a limit?  A willing suspension of... well, it can only take you so far!..."





	1. I don't care what your names are.

**Author's Note:**

> This is not finished — not in order — scraps — but probably that is how it will remain, so if anyone can enjoy for what it is —
> 
> which is uh.
> 
> very self indulgent, very niche.
> 
> Tom Stoppard meets Final Fantasy VII, obviously.
> 
> I don't know. I had the idea in like 2005 when I was doing 20th C Drama and. I still like it. BWJ forever. (Most of this _is_ from either '05 or '08, hi past!me, you had some interesting ideas!) 
> 
> Enjoy the bits and patches...

Alone in a carriage of an underground train, a dark haired young man sits, face absolutely impassive, swaying involuntarily with the motion of the train. _I could sit here forever_ , the face is possibly inferring, _just watch me.I'm in no hurry to get anywhere in particular_.But who knows.

With a _swwwish_ , the doors at one end of the carriage slide open.

"Well?"

"He's here!" The chubby young man who has just entered sounds mildly out of breath."He just got on!"

"Who?"

"Him!"

"Him?" 

"Yeah!"

"What's his _name_?"

"I—"The other stops, confused."I don't know, I—"Stopped dead.

Fainter than a memory of a memory, it catches up with them.A short and dreadfully uncomfortable silence.

The first character: "Don't — don't panic."

The second, panicking, "But—"

" _Don't panic_.Sit down." 

He does.

The first one begins again, slowly, choosing his words with care.   "I'm sure it will all fall into place, if we act naturally."

They sit back in their seats, very uneasily.One of them looks sideways at the other without moving his head and opens his mouth once without saying anything.The other one, the first one, thinking, stares resolutely ahead.The train makes train noises.

And then, at once, they both panic.

"Biggs—"

"Wedge—"

A pause.Biggs, the dark haired young man with the serious gray eyes, relaxes somewhat.

"Well, that's something," he says."At least we've got that much."

"It isn’t much."Wedge pauses."And I don’t think much of the names either, I’ll have you know."

"I wouldn’t worry about that."

"I’m not worrying," says Wedge, all evidence to the contrary.  "I would just like it known that I don’t think much of the names."

"Alright."

"It's just that they’re so — you know, functional," Wedge continues.

"Yes."

"Not much character in a name like that."

"No."

The train stops for a few seconds and then starts up again.

"They’re not bad names, I suppose …"Wedge says, with forced cheerfulness."I suppose, I suppose - maybe I just hoped …?"

Biggs stares out of the window.

Wedge looks too."Where are we headed, d’you suppose?"

"There's a map up there."

That isn't — necessarily — quite what Wedge meant. 

"Oh …"He looks at it anyway."Right.Oh, I see. "(He doesn't.)

"I think we’re here," says Biggs at length.

"Where?"

"The end of the line."He catches himself."The station, I mean."

"So what do we-"

"We—we act naturally.

"Now?"

"Yes!"

There's a fractional, agonising hesitation and then—"When?"

"...Come _on._ "


	2. This sucks. I hate the dark.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another train journey. (After the first Mako Reactor bit, that's all done.)

" _He's coming this way!_ " Wedge hisses. "What do I—?"

Too late.Cloud interposes himself in front of Wedge and nods at him.

"Hey… Cloud."

Cloud grunts in response.

"Someday AVALANCHE is gonna be famous, you know," Wedge tries, "and me too.What… do you think?Have I got a bright future in front of me?"

Cloud grunts again."What did you have in mind?"

Wedge looks briefly terrified."Well—all my life, feeling like nothing but a sidekick," he babbles."But with AVALANCHE, trying to save the Planet… Maybe I can do a lot of things!"

"Sure."

Cloud wanders off again.

"Real smooth," Biggs comments.

"I _tried_ , okay?I didn't notice you trying to help!"

"He didn't address me."

"Ah."Pause."Save the Planet?" Wedge repeats, half to himself."I don't even know what's wrong with it."

"Does it matter?" Biggs asks idly.

"Well, doesn't it?"

"Does what?" 

" _What_?"

"Doesn't matter."

"You did that on purpose." 

"Yes.Sorry."

"Why?" Wedge whines.

"Why what?"

" _Wedge!!_ "

"What?"  Biggs' voice is suddenly sharp.  "What did you call me?"

"Wedge," says Wedge, impatiently.

"That's your name."

"Is it?"

"Yes of course it is!"

"I don't see why it matters..." Wedge puts in, sulkily.

"Of course it matters!"

"Why, though?"

Biggs takes a breath, catches it halfway, releases it, and then starts the process again."Look, it just does.We've got precious little else to go on; at least _try_ not to throw out the only clue we've been given, will you?"And now he's restless, on-edge too."The only clue we've been given..." he repeats quietly."I don't think much of the names, if it comes to that."

Wedge just sits in silence, watching.

Biggs frowns.  "We must - I mean - we must really care about what we're doing, though, right?  I mean, why else are we here?"

"Why _are_ we here?" 

"But how can we possibly be sure?" Biggs continues, ignoring him."We've only got their word for it."

Over the other side of the compartment, Cloud and Jessie are examining the scale map of Midgar.

"We've got nothing to go on!Bar the names, I mean, and I don't think much of them either.No clues, not one helpful hint!"

"I know..."

Barrett turns towards them and Biggs lowers his voice.

"Not one bloody character note!"

"I _know_..."

"Is it too much to ask?Just for a — just a sense of direction?"

They relapse into silence, just in time hear yellow-haired Cloud say, apropos of nothing they've been following: "It's like this train.It can't run anywhere except where its rails take it."

Biggs and Wedge turn to one another.

"This is ridiculous," fumes Biggs.  "There is a _limit_!  Isn't there a limit?  A willing suspension of... well, it can only take one so far!..."

But at that moment, the train judders to a halt.


	3. But don't get lazy now.

Wedge: We’ve been friends for a long time, then?

Biggs: Oh yes.Ever since... ever since we met.

Wedge:When was that, then?

Biggs: When was that??Don’t be stupid.

(long pause)

Wedge:You don’t know, do you?

(pause)

Wedge:Well do you?

(pause)

Biggs:Do you?

Wedge:  No, of course not!  That’s why I’m asking you.

Biggs:(sighing)That’s why he’s asking me.Well there you have it then.

Wedge:What?

Biggs:What do you mean, ‘what’?

Wedge:I mean, there you have what then?

Biggs:What??

Wedge: I -

Biggs:  Never mind!

* * *

 

I want to go home.I miss… somewhere.Something. _We've_ missed something.We must have.I want to — Did someone turn over two pages at once?What's going _on_?


	4. I'm not interested in your stories.

They get drunk.Or—

Cloud approaches.

Biggs waves outrageously.Wedge, in the background, stares in astonishment.

"Hic!!Nothing like the first drink after a job!Why don't ya join me?Even if you were in SOLDIER…"

"Sure," says Cloud, rather awkwardly, and returns to the bar.

"So you better listen… to… to everything I…" Biggs trails off.

"What was _that_?" Wedge asks.  "Is that what you call acting natural?"

"I have no idea.I just…" He passes his hand over his face."I'm fine now.Watch out, here he comes again."

Cloud walks back, drink in hand and nods this time at Wedge.

"I sure love Tifa's cooking!" Wedge gushes and this time Biggs stares. "Mmmmmm!"

Tifa herself waves, and Cloud leaves.

"Was that—"

"That was—"

Biggs looks at his empty glass."And yet… _Two apes entitled acciaccatura and appoggiatura aboard a frigate bound for the Arctic._ "

"Cogent."

"Quite.How humiliating, to lose the one escape from the world, bar suicide."

"I suppose we still could, (you know…)—"

"(End it all?)  Wouldn't work.  Not now."

"There'd be no point anyway.It might be what they're counting on."

"No, we just wait for things to play themselves out."

"It wouldn't work.Not now."

"There'd be no point even trying."

They relapse into silence.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jessie, canonically, says some really weird stuff. To herself?

" _Careless…_ " Jessie says, " _You're getting all excited.  Wonder what for?_ "

…

Wedge creeps back from the hole to the lower level.

"What's she doing?" asks Biggs.

"Talking."

"To Cloud?"

"Not to Cloud."

"To herself then?"

"It doesn't make any sense."


	6. I must've made a miscalculation somewhere.

"Is it too much to ask?" Biggs asks, again.

* * *

"What's she doing?"

"Talking."

"To herself?"

"There's no one else there."

"To herself then."

"It doesn't make any sense."

* * *

Jessie says, "What is it like, dying?"

* * *

"Why would she think we would know, though?"

"You said yourself, she wasn't talking to us."

"She wasn't talking to herself."

"You said she was!"

"She couldn't have been.It doesn't make any sense."

" _None_ of this makes any sense," Biggs points out.

"Are you frightened?" Wedge asks.

"I'm not sure fear applies to us."

"But _are_ you?"

 


	7. I'm leaving. Goin' faraway.

Wedge bangs his fist on the table.  "I want to _die_."

Biggs doesn't make the slightest motion to turn to look at him."What for?"

"What?"

"Well, you must have a _reason_."

"Oh, right.  I thought you meant - you know, dying _for_ something.  A cause or something."

"Alright, that too, if you like."

 

* * *

 

"I think I could die for _you_."Wedge says, and rushes on: "You know.If I had to.If you wanted me to."

"...Oh talk sense."


	8. Loveless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> meta as text?

"Take in a show?  We're free to do that much, aren't we?"

(It doesn't go so well.)

Walking back from _Loveless_ , Wedge is ranting.

Wedge: …and lots of people died but only a few matter!

Biggs: (sardonic, bored tone)  Tragic, isn’t it?

Wedge:No it isn’t, that’s exactly the point!No one cares.Oh sure, maybe someone goes off to avenge them for a bit - or so they say - but they don’t care.They never even gave them enough character to show why someone should care one way or the other! 

Biggs:Then why do you care?

Wedge:(stopped. ridiculously)I don’t!!I’m just... (deflates) angry.At the injustice of it all.Extras falling from the scaffolding.Faces in the crowd.Forgetable faces.Not even faces at all!(getting worked up again)Figures in the corner of the blurry photograph half obscured where someone’s put their thumb over the lens!!

Biggs: (who has been getting increasingly edgy)Alright!

Wedge: (doggedly)Tools in the hand of an unskilled playwright.Or, at least an uncaring one.Or a selectively caring one.Or- or- well, people only remember the heroes, right?And the villains.And there have to be sacrifices, I suppose, right?So the audience appreciates it.All the drama, you know.Oh, but it’s not the big impressive sacrifices- just little expendable extras, sad sad clowns...

(Wedge is speaking on instinct... passionate about the play people...Biggs is starting feel distinctly uneasy about the whole setup, even if he can’t work out why.)

Biggs: Alright!!

Wedge: ...plot devices.

(silence.)

Biggs:(it’s more like agreement.)Alright.

(They walk on in silence.)

Wedge:(looks around.Suddenly.)Where’s Jessie?

Biggs: (without looking around)Out of the spotlight.

Wedge: (Confused.On edge and unnerved)What?

Biggs:Off.Backstage.Exit Jessie.

Wedge: What??

Biggs: (explosion)Oh-how-should-I-know??(beat, restrained) Somewhere, I suppose.


	9. We're in trouble. I'll explain later.

(At last, they talk.)

Biggs: There, there...  It’s alright...

[Jessie, who is sobbing, shakes her head “no”]

Biggs: There...

[She quiets.]

Biggs:  There.  No use crying over spilled milk, as they say.  It’s probably too late now, and it’s perfectly likely that there was never anything to be done about it.

Jessie:Is that supposed to be comforting?

Biggs:  (softly)  Some might think so...

[She gets up.Walks to the door.They watch her without moving.]

Wedge:Are you alright, then?

Jessie:(shrugs)I’m alright now.Thank you, I’ll just be getting back to... you know.(She leaves.)

[Long pause.]

(moment of “ah -” “you-”“d’you -”)

Wedge:Is it true though?

Biggs:About us being doomed from the start?I should think so.

Wedge:(considers.Does not argue.)What about her?

* * *

"Who will even remember us?" Wedge asks, desolate.  

"Barret?Tifa?Jessie would, but…"

"But Jessie will— Jessie's going to— Like us."

"She's like us.But not quite."

"We've known each other for longer."


	10. This better not have anything to do with that Magitek-riding, Imperial witch!!!

"What's the first thing you can remember?"

* * *

"We were soldiers," Wedge says quietly.

"Yes."

"We obeyed orders."

"Yes."

"And then — she — Tina, was it, or?"

Biggs shuts his eyes and shakes his head."I don't remember."

" _Yes you do!_ "

"No."

"Yes!A young woman with — with bright hair and — haunted, emptied eyes."

"Dawn on the snowfields," Biggs mutters.

"Yes." Wedge frowns suddenly.  "You weren't very nice to her."

"Wasn't I?No, I suppose I wasn't.Neither were you."

"You shouted at her, and I marched her forward at gunpoint...And then..."

"And then we died."

* * *

"Not immediately," Wedge demurs.

"True," Biggs says reasonably."We had quite the run-around, it was very exciting."

"We saw the living creature in the ice.And it looked like a burning coal of fire.And out of the fire came lightening—"


	11. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie did good.

"Why, though?" asks Wedge, just as Biggs is wondering if he can drop off to sleep.

"Why what?"

" _Why_ were we like that?"Wedge jumps off the bed and starts pacing.Biggs groans."Why didn't we help her?"

Biggs sits up, rubs his eyes."We thought..." he says, "We thought we were doing the right thing."

"Did we, though?Did we really?I don't think we did.In fact, I don't think we _thought_ at all.We just _did_."

"Oh, really?Is that what you THINK?"

Meekly."...Yes?"

"It doesn't matter, anyway," says Biggs gruffly.

Wedge lets it go."It's different this time, anyway."

"Is it?"

"This time... this time we have a purpose."

Biggs shakes his head."Does that really make a difference, in the end?"

"Maybe not for us."

**Author's Note:**

> and that's all she wrote, pretty much, that's fit to print, I'm afraid. I dunno. I thought posting this would maybe finish it for me, stop me thinking about it but I'm not so sure. What an idea...
> 
> (And, I did used to write FFVII fic generally back in the day tho it really was a ways back -- it's all over [here](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/117832/JestaAriadne).)


End file.
